Friendship Fades - Chapter 1 The Dam Breaks
by EmillyEngland
Summary: Rhett has been avoiding Link for over a year, only spending time with him at work. When Rhett makes a callous joke about it on GMM, Link's emotions finally boil over. But Rhett has a reason for distancing himself from Link. A good one. One that changes everything. Inspired by something Rhett said in GMM #1378, 'Blind Pickle Taste Test', timestamp 08:45.


"I'm glad we don't hang out outside of this anymore."

The familiar sharp pain stabbed Link's stomach yet again. The pain had dulled, but never disappeared in the weeks since he'd first heard those words. Every time he had looked at Rhett since that day, he felt the knife twist a few more inches inside his stomach. But now, watching the GMM episode on YouTube, hearing those words again, seeing his own reaction to them, the knife in his stomach practically split him in two. He couldn't stop himself from scrolling through the comments. Rhett's comment hadn't gone unnoticed, but most mythical beasts assumed it had been a joke, another example of Rhett's dry, deadpan sarcasm. Link wished that were true, but he knew it wasn't a joke. It wasn't sarcasm. They hadn't been proper best friends in over a year.

Rhett entered their office. "Oh hey, you watching today's episode of GMM? Any good?" he asked, a smile in his voice. Link didn't turn around to look at him, afraid that his lifelong best friend would read his face far too easily. "Yeah, it's fine". Link said quietly, with a sniff. He hoped Rhett would just assume he had a cold, not that he was biting back tears. "Link, are you okay? You've been acting kind of weird the past couple of weeks, and you've barely been able to look at me today. Please tell me if I've done something wrong." Link still stared at his screen, refusing to turn around, refusing to talk because he was sure that the moment he allowed words to come out, his tears would too.

"Link? Buddy?" Rhett asked gently, coming closer and turning Link's chair towards him. "I don't want to talk right now, Rhett!" Link yelled, getting up, grabbing his bag and rushing out, slamming their office door behind him. Rhett was completely bewildered. He racked his brain for clues as to why his best friend was acting this way. He couldn't think of anything he had done or said that might have upset his friend. Unless...Link knew? But he couldn't know. No-one knew. Exhausted, pushing the uncomfortable idea to the back of his mind, Rhett sat down in Link's warm, vacated chair and pressed play. "I'm glad we don't hang out outside of this anymore". Rhett looked down and with a jolt of his heart, saw teardrops on the keyboard.

That evening, Link was sitting on his couch, watching some Netflix show with glazed, unseeing eyes, when he felt a buzz in his jeans pocket. He pulled out his phone and felt a familiar flutter in his stomach at the sight of Rhett's name.

Rhett:

Hey Link, are you upset because of what I said on GMM? About not hanging out with you any more?

Link:

I don't want to talk about it Rhett. Friends drift apart, it's no big deal. We just see each other at work now, and that's fine.

Rhett:

It's not fine if it's upsetting you. Can we talk about it? I could come and pick you up?

Rhett didn't know why he had texted in the first place. As they had revealed in a recent Ear Biscuits episode, they had only just started texting as friends. In the past, their texts had been purely business, all their real conversations happening face-to-face, but recently they had occasionally texted just to chat. He had thought it would be easier to broach the awkward conversation without Link's piercing blue eyes boring into his skin, but now that he was texting him, he realised this conversation needed to be face to face.

Link:

I said I don't want to talk about it Rhett.

Rhett:  
Well, I do. Please? I'm getting in the car now. I hope you will have changed your mind by the time I get there.

Link's heart raced when he read Rhett's text. He wanted to talk to Rhett, tell him how awful it was to start losing your best friend, and even worse when that best friend announces it to the world with a cold, callous laugh. But he knew there was nothing Rhett could say or do to make it better, so what was the point? He knew he'd end up going with Rhett. His best friend had always been endlessly, irritatingly persuasive. So he put on a pair of smart dark jeans and a button down shirt that always elicited compliments from Rhett when he wore it. He fixed his hair and then paced nervously, awaiting Rhett's arrival.

It didn't take long before the doorbell rang. Link opened it and began walking out immediately. "I'm coming, so you can save the persuasive monologue you rehearsed on the drive here" he growled. Rhett almost laughed. Link knew him so well. "Where do you want to go, Link?" Rhett asked tentatively, settling himself into the driver's seat. "You're the one who wanted to talk, I assumed you had something in mind." Link said grumpily, not making eye contact with Rhett. Rhett rolled his eyes and drove, heading to the studio. He knew it would be empty. He led Link to their office, where this whole thing had started. Rhett sat on the couch but Link remained standing.

"Okay, we're alone. Can you please talk to me, Link?" Rhett asked gently. Link scowled and remained silent. "Link, if you're upset about what I said on GMM, it was just a joke. You know my sense of hum..."

"It wasn't a joke, Rhett." Link interrupted. "This is the most time we've spent alone together in months." He turned away from Rhett, barely able to look at him. The knife was back, twisting into his stomach with a vengeance. Rhett sat quietly. Link was right, of course. Rhett hated avoiding him, seeing their friendship die before his eyes, but there was a reason. He hated hurting Link, and wished he could tell him the truth, but Link wouldn't understand. Perhaps he could tell him half of the truth.

"Link, I want to be honest with you. It's true, I have been avoiding you lately. I know we don't hang out as much as we used to. I know our friendship is changing. But there's a reason. I can't tell you what the reason is, but can you trust me, as your best friend, that I wouldn't do this for no reason? That I'm shielding us from something much worse?"

Link slowly turned to look at Rhett, just as angry as before but now also slightly intrigued. "What's the reason?" he asked. "I told you, I can't say" said Rhett with an exasperated sigh. "Just trust me, as your best friend, that I'm doing this for a reas..."

"If you really were my best friend, if I really could trust you, you'd tell me!" Link almost shouted. He paced for a minute, Rhett remaining infuriatingly silent. "You either tell me the reason you've been avoiding me, or this friendship really is over. Forever." Link said. He didn't shout this time. The words were quiet, pleading. Rhett could tell from Link's tone and the tears in his eyes that he meant it. He didn't have a choice.

"Link, I...I want to tell you the truth. But it will hurt us even more. Rip us apart." He said, a lump forming in his throat. "We're dead either way, Rhett, so you might as well tell me." Link replied coldly.

"Okay, Link. I've been avoiding you because...because I can't stand being around you anymore." Link's tears spilled now, even his long, thick, dark eyelashes could no longer hold them back. His best friend in the world, for over 30 years, couldn't stand him. He turned to leave, his hand reaching out for the doorknob. "I can't stand being around you and not kissing you. Touching you. Holding you. I can't stand the fire that roars in my belly every time I look at you. I can't stand thinking about you every day, dreaming about you every night. I can't stand the innuendo on GMM, the long heart-to-hearts on Ear Biscuits. I can't stand the fact that I told you I'd die for you on GMM and you didn't even acknowledge what I said. I can't stand the fact that I told you I loved you on Instagram and you didn't say it back. I can't stand the fact that I do love you, and I would die for you. I can't stand feeling that way and getting just friendship in return. For a long time, friendship was enough, but it isn't anymore, Link. I...I can't." Rhett's tears spilled now too with no more rambling words to hold them back.

Link had frozen, his hand on the doorknob, facing away from Rhett and staring unseeingly at a screw in the doorframe. The knife had finally left his stomach, but something else had taken its place. Was it the fire Rhett referred to? It certainly felt warm. Hot, even. It lapped at his insides, taking his tears away and drying out every cell in his body. When he tried to speak, his throat was so raw the words came out as little more than a rasp.

"Rhett, I..."

"It's okay, Link. I know you don't feel the same way. I know me telling you how I feel totally ruins everything. I know you won't even want to work with me anymore. I'll quit GMM tomorrow, you can brainstorm ideas with the crew on how to explain my departure. You can make me the bad guy, I don't mind." He was rambling again, but he needed Link to know it was okay, that these feelings were his fault and it was therefore his responsibility to suffer the consequences.

"Rhett, how long have you felt this way?" Link asked, hoarsely.

"A long time, Link. I don't know. For ages I just assumed you knew, but after years of me dropping innuendos wherever I could and coming up with sordid ideas for GMM episodes, I realised you were oblivious." Link looked ashamed. "No!" blurted Rhett quickly. He needed Link to understand. "It's okay, it's not your fault. This is all on me, Link."

"Sordid ideas?" Link whispered.

"You know, duct taping us together, kissing through the plexiglass, me 'babybirding' food into your mouth..." Rhett trailed off, looking down at his feet, feeling himself blush and wishing he wouldn't.

Link's mind raced. Now that he thought about it, those were all Rhett's ideas. How had he not realised before? "Rhett, I..." Link faltered.

"It's okay, Link. I'll go." Rhett made his way towards the door, but he had to pass Link to get to it. Link reached out, but second guessed himself and pulled back. Then he shook his head, took a deep breath, steeled himself for whatever the consequences of his next action would be, and grabbed his friends wrist as it reached towards the doorknob. "Don't" whispered Link. Rhett looked down at him. Their eyes met, and neither looked away. The fire was roaring so loud inside both of their stomachs, the whole world had to be able to hear it. "Don't..." whispered Link again. "Don't leave me". He hugged his friend.

Link's arms were around Rhett's waist, his head leaning against his tall friend's chest. Rhett's had one arm around Link's waist, and tentatively lifted the other to his best friend's neck, holding his head safely against his beating heart. They stayed like this for a long time. "Link, talk to me" implored Rhett, the first to break from the hug, although it caused him deep agony to let go. "What do you want from me? What do you need? Just tell me and I'll give it to you, whatever it is. Anything in the whole world." He looked earnestly into Link's bright blue eyes, and saw unshed tears sparkling there again.

"Rhett, I don't know. I've always known there was something special between us. I've always known that we were destined to be together in some way, friends or otherwise. I mean, your light-hearted comment about us not hanging out anymore brought me to tears every single time I thought about it. That's not a normal reaction. I dress up for you, I try to always look my best whenever I know I'm going to see you. I obviously feel something for you that's more than just simple friendship, and I always have. But, Rhett, I'm not gay. At least, I don't think I am. I've never been with a man. I've never even thought about it. Heck, I've only ever been with one woman! I wouldn't know how to act upon our special connection, or if I even want to."

Rhett's heart soared. The flames were roaring so high and loud, he thought they'd both be engulfed by them. _Link felt it too._ He couldn't picture them acting upon their love, but he felt it. And that was enough for Rhett. "Link, I don't think I'm gay either. We don't have to put a label on any of this. And we don't have to do anything you don't want to. Heck, we don't have to do anything physical at all. If we could just be together and acknowledge our love, without so much as kissing each other, I'd still be happy until the day I die. I need you. Everything else is gravy. I just need _you_ , Link."

Their eyes met again, Rhett's green eyes blazing into the bright blue ones below him. "I'm not saying that I would never want to do anything...like that." Link whispered, hanging his head and staring intently at his feet, hot shame and awkwardness washing over him, dampening the fire in his stomach. "I just...wouldn't know how." He hated the idea of disappointing Rhett. Rhett had obviously put a lot more thought into this than he had, had daydreamed about kissing him and doing...other stuff. Link was terrified he wouldn't live up to Rhett's dreams. Rhett read his best friend's mind, as he so often could. "Link. Link, look at me" Rhett cupped Link's chin and gently rose it upwards until their eyes met again. "You could never, ever disappoint me."

Link took a deep breath and made up his mind. It must have taken so much courage for Rhett to tell him how he felt, and now it was his turn to be brave. Rhett's heart skipped a beat as his best friend rose to his tiptoes and leaned in. The bright blue eyes were piercing his soul, until they slowly closed. Warm, soft lips met his. Gently. The lightest, softest and most perfect kiss anyone had ever had, Rhett thought. If that was the only kiss they ever shared, if Link decided he could never do it again, then at least it was the most wonderful kiss imaginable. But it wasn't over. The flames inside both of them erupted as their lips met again, wetter, deeper, more needy this time. The fire of their kiss could set the whole world alight. One of Rhett's hands gently gripped Link's hair at the back of his neck, the other wrapped tightly around his waist. He moaned softly, wishing his tongue could find Link's, but knowing that moving too fast could ruin everything. So he mimicked whatever Link did. His moan seemed to have brought Link back to reality. Link knew they had all the time in the world to kiss. Right now, he needed to tell Rhett. He pulled away.

"I'm sor..." Rhett started.

"No. Don't be sorry. I love you, Rhett."

"I love you too, Link."

They fell back into each other's arms, hugging closely, both knowing that this wasn't the end of their friendship, but the start of something life changing.


End file.
